Expecting

 

‘He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child’.

(Luke 2: 5)

The waiting is almost over! It is Christmas Eve. What are you expecting tomorrow?

Children will be expecting the visit of Santa during the night, and presents around the tree in the morning. This expectation will lead to mounting excitement!

Some folks, on the other hand will be expecting nothing more than just another day. No family, no gifts, no celebrations and no difference. Remember them and pray for them and consider if there is anything you can do to change their expectations.

Rather unusually, I am expecting a very quiet Christmas Day. Most of the family will not be with us this year. And so, with one of our sons, a friend (and our dogs!) a simple, relaxed Christmas Day is what I am expecting.

Of course, Mary was expecting her first child; the one who had been promised and who would be named Jesus. The word ‘expecting’ is now so associated with pregnancy that we simply say that ‘so-and-so’ is ‘expecting’, and we know what that means -  a baby is coming!

Usually, that news of someone expecting brings with it excitement as well as a bit of anxiety and apprehension. All the more so in the case of Mary. Young and vulnerable, she is a far away from home, in a strange place, after a long journey, and with her pregnancy surrounded by suspicion if not scandal.

I wonder if these circumstances and her inevitable anxiety in the face of them (and in the anticipating childbirth itself) would completely overwhelm her excitement. Expecting (in the specific as well as in the wider sense) can lead to negative as well as positive emotions. There will be many people who (sadly) will be expecting Christmas Day to bring nothing but disappointment, tension or misery.

But it is sad that ‘expecting’ has so many negative connotations for so many people. Just Google ‘expectation quotes’.

I did and the first quotes were;

‘The best way to avoid disappointment is don’t expect anything from anyone’

 ‘Don’t blame people for disappointing you, blame yourself for expecting too much’

‘From now on I will expect nothing and just accept what I get’

...and so they go on.

What a pity.

For whatever reasons, expecting is not primarily regarded in a positive light, but a negative one.

Those of us who speak of Christian hope and who seek to live out that hope in how we view the world, surely bring a different perspective to the idea of ‘expecting’. While we know (and must never deny) how dark and bleak this world can be, and while we too will have known, and will yet know, the depths of disappointment, we must keep on expecting the fulfilment of God’s promise.

And as we expect that tomorrow we will celebrate the birth of that hope so we can live in the expectation of the final fulfilment of the promises that were heralded at his birth.

I will not give up expecting, and will not allow my expecting to be overcome by negatives.

And as well as looking forward to (and expecting!) a simple but relaxing and enjoyable Christmas Day, I am expecting to be able to share some good news in tomorrow’s final post in this series.

Much to expect then!

Watch this space!!